Book bait
Working title: Fifty years of Tales from the Tailgate: The Good, the Fun, and the Ugly of College Football, 1972-2022 (and beyond)
“College football—what better way to spend an autumn afternoon?” That catch-phrase of ABC’s Chris Schenkel during the 1960’s always stirs memories of growing up watching NCAA football on television every fall Saturday afternoon. As a kid, I would tune into the games to not only witness the exciting action on the field, but to experience emotions from the sights and sounds surrounding the games – fight songs, drumbeats, school colors, cheerleaders, card sections, chants, feisty mascots, and passionate crowds – and I wanted to experience all of that in person someday.
After graduation from college in 1979, I’d eventually see half of the big-time teams play before the 2000 college football season began. As usual, I perused team schedules to check out what games I wanted to attend during the upcoming season. I realized that I could possibly see nine new teams I hadn’t seen before. After that, 50 more Division 1A teams remained to be seen in person.
Could such an unimagined goal be possible “to see ‘em all”? Could I actually get to see every 1A team play in person at least once in my lifetime? This was something that I’d love to do. It wouldn’t be easy based on time, some extra travel, growing responsibilities, and of course, money.
Granted, I would be focused on only one, sometimes two games on a Saturday or over a weekend, causing me to miss many televised games. For my passion, however, I’d be living and breathing the excitement, traditions, and atmosphere of at least one game being played somewhere. I’d read about avid baseball fans making trips to see as many Major and Minor League teams play in as many venues as possible on a tour across the country during the summer. Of course, limited to games played generally on Saturdays over four months, I couldn’t complete this objective in one season. Who could?
By no means did I have access to a private or corporate jet. Not in my wildest dreams would anyone want to hire me to cover college football for major some media outlet. Who would hire a business major whose college football experience comprised of the following: one season of 150-lb football where I never made weight; a season of transfer ineligibility spent running on a scout-team offense for a D-3 program (my frosh cohorts and I called ourselves, “Scout-team All-Americans” to offset the three days a week against the first-team defense); a year recovering from an ACL and menial meniscus injury self-inflicted during a spring, club lacrosse game ( I was elected team captain because I probably clobbered everybody in practice at last once); coming back from that injury in the best shape of my life two football seasons later; and eventually walking into the coaching staff meeting to say “screw this” after a scrimmage against Millersville State my senior year (my parting words were, “This ain’t Notre Dame!). I could not say I was a college football player, but I was definitely a college football “practicer”.
Though this vision to see ‘em all might take years, I knew doing this out of sheer desire would be an experience to savor. Also in 2000, with a wife and two young kids, I’d have to figure out how I could get them to buy into my plan cutting into quality, family time, and the household budget.
Also, realize my endeavor wasn’t to make it to every stadium across the country from my native New Jersey. That would be divorce no matter how saintly my wife may be. I had to pick and choose my games with a time-constrained plan in place. In addition to that, I was obligated to earn a living Monday-Friday.
Now in 2023 settling into retirement, looking back I wouldn’t have done this any other way. This turned out to be challenging enough, and I wanted to do this for my own personal enjoyment. Employment doing this would remove the fun and add pressure. To paraphrase that Navy ad campaign from years ago, “I didn’t need another job, I wanted an adventure.”
I developed plans looking at future schedules. Where and when could I drive to a particular game? There would be costs. How much? Could I afford to fly in some cases? Could I visit with friends, or find low-cost hotels? Could I get friends to travel with me, or go by myself? I desired to get this done, but I also wanted to have fun while doing it. Some close to me had doubts. Of course, I couldn’t have continued my “goal”, or maybe I should say “habit”, over the years without the blessings my wife. St. Laurie, as some refer to her, became the patron saint of college football widows.
For more than fifty years, attending college football games in person has provided me with memorable, fun-filled, rewarding experiences. Being able to share these “adventures” with other college football fans makes it all even more fun. This book starts fifty years ago on this surreal trip. It starts as a junior in high school and continues after retirement in a 42-year career as a Purchasing professional. Update: my ultimate college tailgate travel tour to see ‘em all continues into 2023 and beyond! Up to 676 games attended in all. It’s not over. The journey continues.
Regarding this adventure, some readers may find it dismal that I saw the majority of teams play for the first time against the likes primarily of Penn State, Army, Navy, or Rutgers. Others may think that I “cheated” by attending games at a close, neutral site like The Meadowlands. In those earliest years reported, travel was bound based on my starting salary. Earning $12,000 in 1979, my entertainment budget determined where I could afford to go and how much I could spend.
Of course, my football-focused budget called for tickets, beer, gas, parking, food, beer, and my just-developing game program library. Of course, that salary also financed a non-football budget. It paid for necessities like apartment rent, beer, utilities, a car payment, softball travels, groceries, and beer. Sometimes, I could actually afford to go out on a date. However, I’ve attended another 250+ games since writing the first book published in 2011. As the salary grew along with frequent flier points for business travel, my horizons for football travel expanded. I’ve now attended games at 78 FBS stadiums; 170 in all including neutral sites and lower division venues.
Later games played by many teams seen play the first time offered more significance than the original games attended. Rather than write another full story about another game attended, instead I include a “Fast Forward” epilogue to original chapters where I highlight that particular team’s sightings to closer, present-day experiences (Example: LSU’s first-game chapter reports a loss in 1981 to Notre Dame. In 2018, I watched QB Joe Burrow and LSU riddle Oklahoma, 63-28, at the CFP Peach Bowl on their way to the National Championship). I report that in the LSU chapter’s “Fast Forward.”
On the other hand, things are changing in college football. For better or for worse? I address that in these chapters. Back in the 80’s, SMU football got shut down for two years with the “Death Penalty” for illegal payments to student-athletes. Now, the NCAA instituted a policy titled “Name, Image, and Likeness” (NIL) supposedly for the benefits of athletes to make money in what is now basically becoming a major industry, literally of football factories. Many deemed policies to compensate athletes were necessary to cover living expenses.
Instead, this is becoming a “monster”. Schools now solicit contributions from supporters to be matched by corporate sponsors to raise NIL funds to entice the best talent. Was this the intent of the NIL policy? How is this different than what SMU did in the 80s to shut its program down? The NCAA, an “academic” institution, seems to have put little thought into any of this. I address issues like this as the “Ugly” in college football.
Back to the “Good” and the “Fun” of my book. In some cases, your favorite teams may have ended up on the “short-end” of the initial chapter. I have to say though that in most of those cases, I came up with a silver lining to shed a more positive light on your team’s personal history with me. But, consider this book follows a historical adventure on one fan’s passion to “see ‘em all.” It’s an adventure over time and distance.
I have two favorite teams (Penn State and Navy), but I didn’t commit to see them play every weekend. I wanted to visit different places, see different teams, enjoy unique game atmospheres, witness specific traditions, meet fans of different schools, travel different routes. Maybe you would’ve liked doing this yourself someday, but since you couldn’t, take this long, fun, unique journey along with me.
With my relocation from NJ to Tennessee for retirement, there comes a “bucket list”. It assures I will see games at venues still yet to be attended. Hopefully, this will not only draw people to my blog, collegefootballfan.com, but also provide me experiences for another book idea.
I have one outside the realm of seeing every team play, but it’s still based on my life-long experiences following college football. This updated edition of my original book offers a perspective of 50 years and many different places to enjoy a college football game on a fall, Saturday afternoon, or now even on a weekday night. Come along for a fun, interesting, unique ride.
But also, I have concerns about the future of this great American institution going forward. Will it change for the worse? Will it adapt for the better? I inquire for the benefit of us fans, not for players, schools, coaches, or media networks (too many TV timeouts we have to sit through). After recording fifty years as an avid fan of college football, I will summarize and address my hopes, concerns, and ideas as to where it all goes in the future. And please continue track all of my progress to “see ‘em all” on my website, www.collegefootballfan.com. In addition to my history, game reviews, and season previews, I write editorials in posts titled “Steveo’s Salvos”. Enjoy and ponder.
